This blog focuses on news and information regarding practice in the federal courts in the Eastern District of California, with a special emphasis on criminal and civil rights cases.

Blog Author

John Balazs is an attorney in Sacramento, California, specializing in criminal defense, including appeals, habeas corpus, pardons, expungements, and civil forfeiture actions. After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1989, he clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. John was an Assistant Federal Defender in Fresno and Sacramento from 1992-2001. He currently serves as an adjunct professor in clinical trial advocacy at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Please email EDCA items of interest to Balazslaw@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @balazslaw.

Disclaimer

This blog is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be construed as legal advice. The law can change rapidly and information in this blog can become outdated. Do your own research or consult with an attorney.

May 2015

May 03, 2015

Longtime Sacramento federal magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd is again scheduled to get his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next week, and local court officials hope this time the hearing actually happens.

A March hearing for Drozd was canceled, frustrating overworked Fresno judicial officials who say his confirmation is critical to the court’s operations. The hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Washington D.C.

“The vote is crucial,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill said. “We are cautiously optimistic for both Magistrate Judge Drozd — and the court.”

O’Neill is currently the only full-time judge in Fresno’s federal courthouse. Fellow U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii — who Drozd would replace if he eventually wins confirmation — is currently on senior status and working half-time.

When his replacement starts in Fresno, Ishii will further reduce his work to quarter-time.

Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a Tuolumne County man accused of starting a massive 2013 wildfire that burned for more than two months and eventually charred more than 257,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.

Keith Matthew Emerald, 33, was facing a four-count indictment that included starting the Rim fire, a blaze that eventually grew into the third-largest wildfire in California history. He was also charged with leaving a fire unattended, lying to investigators and setting a fire in an area with fire restrictions. The charges carried a maximum sentence of 11 years and more than $500,000 in fines.

In court papers filed Thursday, prosecutors said they were dropping charges because two key witnesses had died unexpectedly since the indictment was brought last August. U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on Friday officially dismissed the charges.

“The statements of those witnesses are now inadmissible hearsay which cannot be used as evidence in trial,” according to court documents.

The city of Vacaville has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a man shot and killed by police in 2013, the family’s attorney said Friday.

Kendall Walker, 24, of Fairfield was shot when he got out of his car and charged at officers with a hammer and knife at the end of a chase on July 18, 2013, according to police.

But in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Walker’s parents said their son suffered from mental illness and “had no weapon in his hands and posed no significant or immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm” to the officers who shot him.

The city signed off on the payout last week. Half of the money will go to Kendall Walker’s 7-year-old son, while the other half will be split between Walker’s parents, Leslie Molera and William Walker.